Among other international schools in the United States of America, California seems to have the most expensive schools so far and per their tuition, are also the best.
Many high schools in California offer elite academics, pleasant weather, and plenty of recreational activities to their students all year round.
The state is a clear choice for those who are interested in specific professional pathways, including technology or movies. Additionally, California is home to some of the best universities in the nation, including Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.
What is the most expensive high school in California?
The most expensive high school in California is The Helix Special Education School in Mill Valley which pays a total fee of $55,000 per academic year.
Even though California has one of the highest average private school tuition costs in the US, it ranks eighth on the Private School Review list, with the top seven states all located on the East Coast.
Connecticut ranks highest on the list, with an average tuition price of $27,936. The District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York are the next most expensive states for private school tuition, at an average of almost $19,648.
Some campuses, such as Lick Wilmerding in San Francisco and Nueva School in Hillsborough, do not appear on the website because schools select whether to do so.
According to the website, schools self-report their data “at regular intervals, to help provide the most recent data for families” and pay around $99 to be included with Private School Review.
In a region as notoriously expensive as the Bay Area, where prices for everything from housing to gasoline are among the highest in the nation, it’s no surprise that many private schools charge a hefty sum for tuition – in some cases, right up there with the elite private colleges in the region.
At least five Bay Area private schools rank among the top 15 most expensive private schools in California, according to Private School Review, a website that gathers self-reported data from more than 900 private schools across the state.
The nine most expensive Bay Area private schools on the list top the $50,000 mark for annual tuition. Among those, the top three are:
Rounding out the top $50,000-plus campuses are;
- The Helix Special Education School ($55,000)
- Crystal Springs ($54,445)
- Menlo School ($53,430)
- Urban School of San Francisco ($53,019)
- Woodside Priory in Portola Valley ($52,680)
- Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco ($52,211)
- San Francisco University High School ($52,170)
- The Harker School Middle School in San Jose ($52,000)
- Drew School in San Francisco ($51,975).
By comparison, two of California’s top private colleges, Stanford University and Santa Clara University, both in the Bay Area, barely top the region’s highest-priced K-12 private school, with undergraduate tuition of $55,473 and $56,880, respectively.
The most expensive Bay Area private schools far exceed undergraduate tuition rates for public colleges.
San Francisco State’s annual tuition is $7,484.
San Jose State’s annual tuition is $5,742 for in-state students and $17,622 for out-of-state students.
UC Berkeley’s annual tuition is $14,245 for California residents and $29,754 for out-of-state students.
The average private school tuition across California, according to Private School Review, is $15,650, and the nationwide average is $11,958.